joon

Sag or scars? discuss.......

I had a lower BMI too. At 5'6 I had about 6o lbs to lose to get to my pre-baby size 4. I had surgery on Nov 23 and have lost a little over 35 lbs in three months. It has been easy and I feel great. Actually, I have been wanting to start exercising but have not even done that yet! As far as eating, I just eat normal food and try to make healthier choices but I am not doing low carb or super high Protein, just making sure I eat veggies and whole grains and lean meats. If I want a cookie or chocolate I have some and am satisfied with a small amount. I think you would love it and not have any problem losing weight.

Hey Tiff, You look fab! Congrats. I havent been on in a while and I am happy to log in today and see your success. I am so happy with the sleeve too. It has been three months for me and I have lost a little over 35lbs. I am down to single digit sizes and soooo happy. Another 25 and I will be in my smallest size clothes from college! I have been eating whatever I want ( which for the most part is pretty healthy stuff) and still havent started exercising so I plan to get into that soon. Looking forward to the next three months!

I agree about not beating yourself up about having a treat! We had this surgery so we could live and eat normally. "normal" people eat chips once in a while or a piece of chocolate etc. I also do eat crackers, bread, pasta cookies occasionally but again I just eat a small amount of it. I dont think people should feel bad or like they are sabotaging themselves for a little bit of something like that once in a while. I mean, regardless of what you eat you are going to lose weight if you are eating under 1000 cals a day ( if you can even manage to get in that much). If you try to make sure you get in healthy stuff for the most part then little amounts of the other stuff should not be an issue. anyway, thats just my two cents. I have been living llike that after surgery for 6 weeks now and I have never overeaten to the point of throwing up and only once felt a bit overstuffed but that went away in about an hour. I have lost 24 lbs and feel really good. The only problem I notice is that I still eat too fast. Not too much but too fast and I get the hiccups. Looking forward to losing the remaining 36!

thats so cool! congratulations!!!!!

Hi all, It is so great to hear how everyone is doing! What a good idea! I am a nov 23rd sleever. I checked my weight about 2 weeks ago and it was down 12 lbs. I dont know how much I have lost since then because I havent weighed again. I am trying not to be obsessed with the scale. I know I am looking and feeling better and that is enough for me right now. I am going to start going to the gym after Christmas too so I would just rather see the changes in clothes fitting ( which I have) than worry too much about the number. I had about 60lbs to lose to begin with to get to my goal of 130 so I know its not going to be as dramatic loss in the first months as some people have. Anyway, I am doing fine with no complications. As of yesterday I am eating anything I want even though officially I wasnt suppossed to start that until the 23rd. I havent had any problems with nausea or vomitting, just a couple of times when I felt slightly uncomfortably full but nothing too bad. I am actually surprised at how well it has all gone. I was prepared for a lot of nausea, and getting sick etc, but it hasnt happened, yet anyway. I have not been doing the Protein drinks much. As the days progressed they became worse and worse tasting for me. I just decided to really focus on eating soft fish and meat and eggs etc. I have been doing that and I probably am not getting the full 70 grams of protein in a day, but I looked up the amount of protein in 6 ounces of different meats and it is between 40-55 for various meats and fish. I think now that I am eating solids I should definitely be able to squueze that much in. I just really hate eating those bars and shakes. I have been filling up on much less and much more easily and find that I just make sure to eat protein, limit sugar and carbs but not eliminate them and I do fine. As far as carbs go I do eat some crackers, and potatoes and rice occasionally but just very little. If I want a treat I do have a cookie but it is amazing how I am satisfied now with just one on those occasions! I had some problem with not being able to drink big enough sips for myself for a while but I am able to drink bigger sips now than at first and also getting used to taking smaller sips than I used to before surgery so it is all evening out. I will weigh myself again soon, not sure when but right now I am just enjoying that I notice and everyone around me has noticed that I have lost and that feels positive so Im going with it. Good luck to everyone else!

hehehehe these are all great! The camel and the elephant one has to be for Tracey. Boobs on the back keeps coming back to haunt us!

rcarter, Right there with you friend! I am three weeks and 2 days out. and right around one and half weeks to two weeks after surgery I felt hungry allllll the time! it was torturous! I am on mushies right now and thought I would be so excited at this point but actually find that eating things kind of doesnt feel good to me. I have also never thrown up or gotten nauseus and I dont get a full feeling either. I just stop at very little as soon as I have had a few bites. The hungry feeling for me was pretty intense for a week or so and I actually do think it was partly real and partly head. Now that has passed and I am now feeling like not eating at all. I would rather just avoid it all together other than a Water cracker here and there or a sip or two of soup. I now hate the sweet Protein drink but feel like I am going to have to drink it as otherwise I am getting no nutrition. I do crave a salad now and then. But be assured, it is normal and will likely pass.

Just like I was doing days ago with my Thai cookbook. OH that reminds me I am supposed to post the caramelized pork recipe! I'll do it now. I do love to cook and make delicious food. There is a small part of me that worries I will lose something in that area of m life now but I know I should not feel that way. I will just eat less of it and probably will appreciate the intense, rich flavors even more because I will be eating slower and more thoughtfully. Has anyone found this to be true?

Congratulations Susan!

amazing and gorgeous!

Thats a good point! Thanks!

Sorry you are feeling so poorly. Do you think you could request some zofran? Sometimes when your stomach has been nauseated for a long time, it stays irritated and a couple days on medication can let it calm down and it will be better after that without the med.

Oh my goodness! I can only imagine watching the food channel Tiff! Thanks for the reassurance...it is so wonderful to have everyones input on this board. I spend so much of my life focused on supporting others concerns...it is really nice to have a place to go to to get some support for myself. :-)

Sounds yummy but havent tried it yet ( still on full liquids) but I think this may be the first thing I make when I can eat real food. Thai Carmel Pork vegetable oil 3 oz Asian Shallots 6 cloves garlic 1 lb shoulder or leg of pork cut into thin slices 1 Tb of oyster sauce 1 TB of light soy sauce 1 TB of Fish Sauce 4 TB of sugar (probably half of this would be fine, dont you think?) 1/4 tsp ground white pepper heat a few TB of oil in a pan and fry the shallots until golden brown. be careful not to burn. remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels to soak excess oil. Drain off most oil from the pan stir fry the garlic until light brown then add pork and stir fry for a few minutes. add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 5 mins or until a sticky sauce has formed. spoon onto a plate and top with the shallots.

Hey DeeDee, Did you decide to try the prep kitchen? Curious how you liked it.

Hey Tracy, This is just a thought... When I was in my second year of graduate school my husband got offered a great job in a neighboring state. I looked into transferring but found I would lose a lot of credits and all my internship hours so I decided that I would commute back and forth weekly. This was a SUPER hard decision for me because I had a two year old at the time and being away from her was going to be torture. Anyway, I would leave at 3 am on Monday mornings drive 5 hours go to internship and classes for four days and then Thursday nights drive back 5 hours. It was really really hard and somewhere in there I had to find time for homework, and doing all the mom things. To make things easier I decided to start a food coop. I put up some sign as the local cafe and on craigslist to find like minded folk and when there were four of us we got together and planned out a month worth of main dishes. On Sunday I would cook and deliver food to the three other families. They would keep that for their monday night dinner. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the other families would deliver meals to my husband and daughter. This made his being a single parent a little easier while I was gone because even though he only got home aroudn 6:30 after getting the girl, they had a dinner ( usually still warm) waiting on the back steps. I loved the food coop and it worked really well for us. It may be something you might like to start for singles and cooking for one-ers. It would probably be a lot of fun as a single person. Now granted as a sleever you would probably still have too much but it wouldnt be that bad. When you are going to be out you just have to remember to bring it in and put it away. I found four days a week to be perfect.

Hey everyone, So believe it or not I have not weighed myself since getting the surgery. People are noticing that I have lost weight and my husband says he definitely notices now and I think I do also. I am just afraid that I will get on the scale and see a number and it will be disappointing to me. So many people have such dramatic numbers in the beginning and I am pretty sure I wont lose that way. I know it is everyones individual journey and not to compare etc etc, but...such is life. We dont always think the way we want to think. So, do you think I should weigh at the end of the month? Maybe have a once a month weighing thing? Maybe every two weeks? Is there any reason I should need to weigh more often than that? Anyone have suggestions?

Great job! Congratulations!

Thanks newmom...I appreciate the encouragement. I am trying to think about it that way, permanently gone! You should try and get a tongue scrapper to help with your mouth taste, it really helps I think. You can get one at any health food store or Whole foods. How is everything else going for you? I think I ate a little too much rice in my soup last night even though I ate between 1/4 and 1/2 cup total and probably one teaspoon of rice but I got this pain in my side and it just persists when I take a deep breath. It is still there today actually so now I am wondering if it is muscular or if I somehow caused myslef a leak by eating that tiny bit too much. OF course other than the pain I dont feel sick or anything, and I am almost certain that of 700 people he has operated on, I can not be the first one to eat one spoonful too much and since he hasnt had any leaks, I know I am just needless worrying. nonetheless, I will probably worry until this pain disappears. Getting ready for the holidays? I still have Hanukkah shopping to do and it starts tomorrow! Ugh! And of course I havent bought a single Christmas present yet either. I love this time of year but I'm dealing with an intern who I am not too happy with right now and that is taking a lot of time and energy in documentation and extra work. I wasnt planning to but maybe I'll take a week off during the holidays.

Thanks Tiff, I'll do that. It is a good idea. Yes, I have that yucky taste in my mouth all the time too. I use a tongue scrapper to help with it as brushing just doesnt do it. I definitely feel thinner and can tell on my own body. Thanks again for the encouragement. I guess we'll see how things progress over the next two weeks. Oh, and I totally eat carbs right now. I have bits of rice in my soup and crackers now and again. I dont srink juice, just water and the amount of carbs I get from those things is WAY less than it would be from drinking any juice which is just pure sugar. :-)

I'm sorry you are feeling down. Know how that goes. Try to remember that you dont always feel like this, and that you wont feel like this always in the future. Meanwhile, do something very enjoyable for yourself right now today and concentrate on being in the moment to enjoy that activity. Get a pedicure or massage or take a hot bath and then slather yourself silly with some nice scented lotion and watch a fun movie. If you have to work right now, then just focus on one task at a time and get through the day knowing you have these treats planned for later today. :-)

So, This morning I decided to weigh. So many people have commented on my weight loss I thought it would have to be significant. Well, as I suspected, it is only 11 lbs. Now, why I feel disappointed about this I dont know because pre-surgery that much in only two-ish weeks would be great but somehow, considering I dont eat, I thought it would be more. Oh well. Just keep trying to be patient and knowing that this is the last time I will ever see these high numbers on the scale. That is still very exciting. Oh, also, I found some of my old ketostix from low carb dieting and used them this morning. DEEP purple, the darkest! I never achieved that in the past. I guess that means it must be going as well as my body can do it. Does this mean that we are all going to be in ketosis the whole weight loss process? Are you always in ketosis when you are losing weight?

Hey there! Yes, I take some gummy omega 3's as well. I have been chewing my multis and gummy omega 3s since a weeks out! They are so similar to the consistency of jello I just figured it would be OK! Flax oil is a great fish oil alternative. I have lots of vegan friends who use it. It would be good for you too Newmom!

SSDI has a very good program that offers you a significant portion of your SSDI while you are trying out working. It goes on for a long time too...I think over a year. That way people in your situation dont have the stress of worrying about income as they adjust to the work force. I work with many people on SSDI for HIV/AIDS.